She Is a Daughter Raised As the Son of a Duke

The sun had already set, and it was dinnertime. The participants had their meals at the cafeteria.

I had dinner with the Nine members. Jed was sitting on my left, and Diego was sitting in front of me. Clovin and Galley were on either side of Diego, and Velta was sitting in front of Galley.

To eat comfortably, I placed the pouch containing the beads behind me. Since I had collected a lot of beads, there were two pouches, and I never thought anyone would dare to steal them.

The dinner menu was tomato sauce spaghetti. I sparkled with excitement as I looked at the dinner menu. It was one of my favorite dishes, and I was hungry from capturing the demons.

So I hastily started eating the spaghetti and noticed it late. Vita and Galley exchanged glances and looked at the pouch of beads behind me.

Velta and Galley casually stood up.

“I’ll go get some water from the water dispenser.”

“I’ll go too.”

I pretended not to care and glanced behind me, only to see them cautiously picking up one pouch each.

Since the beads were about the weight of a tennis ball, even one pouch was heavy to carry. Just as they were struggling to steal them.

“Stop.”

I slammed my fork on the table and stood up. I turned around and crossed my arms. I looked at them with a pitiful expression.

“Don’t you have anything better to do? Stealing someone else’s beads.”

Velta and Galley exchanged glances again. They seemed to be considering whether to escape with the pouches still in their hands.

“Are you not aspiring to become guardians?”

“…?!”

They stopped in their tracks at my words.

“Lady Iris and Sir Cassius know my abilities. But what do you think they would say if I took pouches that are far inferior to my abilities? Don’t you find that strange?”

Velta stammered, “W-What does that have to do with us?”

“That’s right, that’s right!”

“It has a lot to do with you. If Lady Iris and Sir Cassius ask me why I couldn’t gather enough beads, I’ll tell them that you stole them. The truth, as it is.”

“Oh…!”

Velta made a troubled expression and looked at Galley. Galley shook his head and calmly retorted.

“There is a major flaw in Young master’s words. Would there be a chance for Young master to be concerned about during the selection of the Guardian Knight?”

“The flaw is in your words. Since it’s the time of the Guardian Knight selection, they would pay more attention to me than usual. They need to assess whether I’m suitable to be a Guardian Knight or not, right?”

Of course, it was as good as confirming my position as a Guardian Knight, but they didn’t know that.

“Even so, there is no evidence that we did such a thing.”

“Then throw them away.”

“Huh…?”

“I said, throw them away. Let’s test whose words are right.”

They were startled by my statement. They exchanged glances, seemingly contemplating, but they couldn’t handle the risks involved in challenging me.

They came back to me and put the pouches down.

“We’re sorry, Young master.”

“We apologize, we must have gone crazy all of a sudden…”

They bowed their heads in apology, and I looked satisfied.

“Fine. Let’s not do this again, alright?”

Galley and Velta nodded their heads.

“Okay, it’s settled. Let’s eat.”

Galley and Velta let out a deep sigh of frustration over their failed attempt and resumed their meal. The atmosphere became a bit somber, and both Galley and Velta seemed uncomfortable sitting together after their unsuccessful attempt to steal my belongings, but I didn’t care.

Clovin, who had been watching the scene, clicked his tongue with displeasure. His gaze kept landing on me.

“Why do you keep staring? Could it be…?”

To test him, I stood up from my seat.

“Jed, watch my bag. I’ll go get some water.”

“Sure.”

As I pretended to leave to get water, I wanted to see how Clovin would react. As expected, as soon as I left, Clovin reached for my bag.

“Hehe, once I get rid of this, Flotina’s protector, Nazret, will all say bye-bye!”

I looked at him disdainfully and turned back, clicking my tongue.

“So, it’s Clovin this time? Are you so desperate?”

Clovin seemed unsure of what to do, but then he abruptly grabbed two bags and tried to run away.

“Do you need me to ask why?”

However…

“Ouch!”

Of course, I was much faster than Clovin, who was carrying two heavy bags. I easily grabbed his ear.

“How dare you try to escape?”

I pulled with all my strength.

“Ah-!”

“Just a moment ago, you saw Galley and Velta bowing their heads in apology, and you still wanted to steal, didn’t you?”

I dragged Clovin by the ear back to our seats. Then I gave him an order.

“Put the bags down.”

“But, but if you release my ear first…”

“The bags.”

“Okay…”

When the plan didn’t work, Clovin quickly put down the bags.

I held onto Clovin’s ear and brought him to his seat, releasing his ear when I made him sit down. I didn’t let go easily; I pulled it like a bouncy ball and let go.

“Ow!”

Clovin shed tears and rubbed his ear.

“You said you liked Stella, didn’t you? If she sees you, she’ll really like you, really! How could you think of stealing someone else’s bag?”

Clovin retorted in a crawling voice.

“I wasn’t going to throw it away, I was going to put it in my bag…”

“That’s even worse. You’re trash.”

After sending him a contemptuous look, I warned him.

“If you do this again, you’ll have to prepare to have both ears pulled.”

“Okay…”

I sat back in my seat and ate the spaghetti, not leaving a single strand.

* * *

Each participant was given a tent. They could rest freely inside the tent without any monsters entering.

After resting in the tent, I came out at 8 o’clock. I was here to meet Jed.

After dinner, Jed told me to meet him in front of the oak tree at 8 o’clock.

Why did he want to meet separately? Did he have something to say? But if he had something to say, he could have said it earlier; we had plenty of time.

Why did he specifically call me out…? Could it be…?

As he is someone I like, I started to have expectations.

“He’s not going to confess, is he? Hehe…”

On the other hand, he could draw a line and tell me not to show any signs of liking him.

Today, I did catch myself frequently glancing at Jed. Well, it’s not like spreading rumors about liking someone…

But what should I do when my eyes keep going to him?

My mood was up and down, and not knowing the reason for his call made me uneasy.

Jed was already there at the meeting place. He was leaning against the oak tree. I called out to him cheerfully and ran over.

“Jed!”

“You’re here?”

I sat next to him. The streetlights standing tall everywhere were shining brightly.

“Why did you call me?”

“…”

He didn’t immediately answer my question. Since he didn’t say anything, I asked again.

“Do you have something to talk about?”

“…”

“Well… Did I look at you too much today? If that made you uncomfortable, I’m sorry…”

Jed burst into laughter, seemingly surprised by my apology. His sudden laughter caught me off guard.

“Why, why are you laughing?”

He stopped laughing and looked at me intently. His expression seemed to say that he didn’t expect an apology.

“If you’re sorry, how will you make it up to me?”

“Well… Is there something you want?”

Then Jed leaned in closer to me. Within 15 centimeters, it was a distance that shouldn’t be crossed between friends.

“Look into my eyes more often. Don’t avoid it sometimes.”

I trembled and briefly avoided his gaze.

“When did I avoid it?”

“You’re avoiding it even now.”

“Hey, try it with someone else. Who doesn’t avoid it? Maybe even Second Prince would avoid it?”

I defended myself, saying that it’s definitely not just me. Still, my eyes couldn’t meet his.

“And… I’m not saying you can see the truth. So…”

“Embarrassed?”

He asked with a slight smile, and I blushed.

“Even though you know, you still ask… How mean.”

I leaned forward, hugging my legs tightly, trying to hide my embarrassment.

Jed opened his mouth again, looking at my back.

“Would this make it more fair?”

“Huh?”

“I’ll let you know my feelings whenever you want.”

“Huh…?”

Jed’s face approached mine again. He had an angelic face as he spoke to me.

“I’m glad you’re a girl.”

“What, what do you mean?”

“Oh, isn’t that what you want to hear?”

Why would I feel relieved because I’m a girl? Jed left me curious and then tried to withdraw his foot subtly.

Without hesitation, I asked again.

“Does that mean you also like me?”

Jed nodded his head.

“Since when? How did it happen?”

Words that should have stayed in my mind slipped out of my mouth.

“I’m curious. What made you start liking me?”

The person I like likes me back. I was incredibly curious about how such a happy thing could happen.

Jed reached out his long arm and took my hand. As he lowered his gaze, his eyelids came down. His long and slender eyelashes were beautiful.

“When we promised and locked pinkies.”

Jed locked pinkies with me, just like back then.

“I felt warmth at that time.”

His eyelids lifted, and his deep purple irises once again focused on my face. The hand that held the pinky finger dug into the gap between our fingers.

“It kept lingering in my mind.”

“…”

Was that why they called the original Jed a straight-arrow romantic? With his captivating face, he made me so nervous that I felt like I was going crazy.

Suddenly, the thought that Jed could see the truth crossed my mind, and I quickly pulled my hand away. I didn’t want him to know how much I was trembling.

How embarrassing!

I stood up abruptly.

“P-People will stare. I-I’ll go now.”

Jed also stood up.

“May.”

I pretended not to be embarrassed and ran away.

“I-I’m just worried about the bead pouch! Don’t misunderstand.”

“…”

“I’ll go…!”

I quickly left the spot. Although I almost tripped twice along the way, I wanted to keep that a secret, but Jed saw it all.